That if you are giving your child medication you should know what is is?

[Anunusualfamily]

Calpol IS paracetamol

Calpol is just a brand name of liquid paracetamol.

Liquid paracetamol comes in different strengths under 6 is 120 or 125mg in every 5ml and over 6 is 240 or 250mg in 5ml. Tablets are 500mg each.

The dose you need is dependent on age (or weight if if in the hospital) and you can take that in liquid or tablet form and it does the exact same thing.

An adult could take 40mls of the under 6 4 times a day and it would (taste foul) have the same effect as taking 20mls of over 6 or taking 2 tablets.

A 6 year old could take half a scored 500mg tablet as it’s the same as 5ml of the over 6.

Multiple times I see people saying that calpol (liquid paracetamol) doesn’t work for adults or that their kid has only had calpol but not paracetamol

Some children will only have Calpol as that is all they have been given since first vaccine. People will only have panadol or nurofen fast or whatever as that is what the advertisers and marketing people want us to have.
Bit difficult for an adult to take 40ml of Calpol per dose but if they won't take tablets what do they expect.

I was surprised the hospital would only give ds liquid paracetamol he is 13 and usually takes tablets we were given this HUGE syringe of it adult dose in liquid form is massive

At least they are taking it, it's the people who phone an ambulance or go to A&E complaining of pain (not acute chest pain) who haven't taken anything, and when you ask them why they haven't thought to take anything, they say because it doesn't do anything.

Of course it won't bloody do anything when it's still in the frickin' packet, FFS!!

@fiftiesmum yes my point is though that calpol/parasol are just brand names of paracetamol. Tablet and or liquid the effect is the same.
nurofen is ibuprofen which is a completely different drug.

@Isaidnoalready probably because the dose is 750mg so they might not have tablets that are scored to give a half dose. It would have been 15ml of over 6. I always asked if they wanted a 500mg tablet and then top up with 5ml of 250mg to make up the dose

There are folk who think Calpol is a stand alone medication that's got nothing to do with paracetamol.

Frightening.

Back to calpol.

I went to an obese man in a caravan (fairly standard for the area I work in) with a very high temperature and consequently off his feet. Moving him was really not much of an option without the fire service, so I decided i'd try and get his temperature down and hope that got him more mobile and compliant.

He wasn't with it enough to take tablets, and cannulating him failed due to the obesity, so my last option was paracetamol suspension, which we only carry on the ambulance in the form of under 6 sachets. I proceeded to draw up 8 sachets, of the bloody stuff, into a syringe. Finally got it all in, and when I went to give it to the patient he swiped it out of my hand just as I was squirting it, covering me and putting us almost back to square one.

OMG, it is so sticky!!! Grim stuff.

Do people really not know this?

Where do you see this?

I doubt many people are so stupid as to not realise its liquid paracetamol, and fwiw, nurofen is liquid ibuprofen

I'm a Paediatric nurse and you'd be amazed at the number of parents who don't know that 'Calpol' is paracetamol. That the 'calpol' we use in hospital is exactly the same as the stuff you buy over the counter. It's not stronger. And 6+ can be used under the age of 6. You just use less.

Also 'baby' aspirin doesn't exist. It's banned in children unless used for a very specific reason. Rant over!

@pandy2 on here and in real life. The amount of times people say they’ve not given paracetamol only calpol like@wherearebeefandonioncrisps says it’s frightening

We always ask if patients take tablets or syrup.

Plenty of people also don't realise that cocodomol or codydramol have paracetamol in, and consequently end up overdosing on the paracetamol part.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t know that calpol is paracetamol.
We were away on holiday once and DH was ill. We were rural with no open shops nearby so I looked up how much calpol he could have to make an adult dose of paracetamol as that’s all we had with us (we had a teething baby).
Turned out he has quinsy so it didn’t really cut it!

Same with lemsip.

@Toddlerteaplease same! I’ve learnt (the hard way) to ask if they’ve had paracetamol or calpol because people genuinely don’t know the difference

I’ve never seen anyone saying this. I do think people should know paracetamol is calpol. The mg/ml are on the side of the box, though, and I really don’t think anyone needs to store all the numbers/conversions in their brain unless they work in healthcare.

There are nurses in Ireland who don’t know that co-codamol has codeine in it, that oramorph is morphine, and a general consensus over there that oramorph and tramadol are ‘safe’ to hand out in hospital and codeine isn’t. That concerns me.

100% with you

My other pet hate when working on a paed ward were the parents who used to insist that unbranded liquid paracetamol does nothing and only the calpol brand worked on their child, insist we provide the branded stuff on discharge too.... until I tell them they've received the unbranded stuff the entire time they've been in hospital and all clinical signs have pointed towards a response🤦🏻‍♀️

@prescribingmum yes. I've had parents say the same. Particularly with Nurofen.
And don't get me started on kids who will only take pink calpol. Arghhhh!

You'd think but we've heard it time and again by parents who bring their child to school and say that their little one seemed under the weather.
You'd ask if they've had any paracetamol and they'd say ''no, but I gave them Calpol."

Or they'd say that they've given their child Calpol but were wondering whether they should have given them paracetamol instead and should they get some and come back later to give it to them.

My autistic child will only take pink calpol.

Yep also get lots of I’ve only had cocodamol so can have paracetamol too.

Funny that all the health professionals agree that this is common and a pet peeve and the rest saying that everyone knows this.
Trust us not everyone does! there’s posts on here saying calpol isn’t enough and they should take paracetamol.
Agree with the branded vs. unbranded nonsense too.

It's an important point of safety but the reality is a significant proportion of the population is not very literate, has poor scientific knowledge and will struggle with skills such as reading the leaflet with medication and understanding it.

Oh, they are. Some seem to think it's morphine, going by the numbers who say 'oh, I'm not going to give them something that makes them out of it' (or the ones who claim to be after two ibuprofen).